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Humanity might be exploring virtual space sooner than expected as Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe claims his company's Oculus Rift headset is now months away from being released to the public.

"We're all hungry for it to happen," Iribe said at Dublin's Web Summit 2014. "We're getting very close. It's months, not years away, but many months." The biggest issue facing the device currently, according to Iribe, is a proper input system. Standard keyboards, mice and gamepads aren't up to the task, Iribe claims, and gesture-control is still too primitive a technology to complement an immersive virtual space.

Despite whatever failings may cling to the Oculus Rift headset at the moment, Iribe is equally worried about other companies rushing products to market and damaging the future of VR in the eyes of the general public. "We're a little worried about bigger companies putting out [VR products] that aren't ready," Iribe stated. "Disorientation and motion sickness is the elephant in the room. We're encouraging big companies not to put out a product before it's ready."

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>brendan-iribefacebookoculus-riftoculus-vrOculusRiftpcweb-summit-2014Tue, 04 Nov 2014 16:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2014/08/28/joystiq-streams-a-low-down-dirty-oculus-rift-dk2-tour/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/08/28/joystiq-streams-a-low-down-dirty-oculus-rift-dk2-tour/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/08/28/joystiq-streams-a-low-down-dirty-oculus-rift-dk2-tour/#comments
Psst. Hey. Sick of all those tame interviews and careful hand-holding through the growing world of virtual reality? Want to take a trip down the unbeaten paths where the weird stuff is happening in Oculus Rift? Want to see a grown man fight with his inner ear when a computer helmet convinces his brain he's actually in outer space? Who wouldn't want that? That's why we're taking a dip into the wild world of streaming Oculus DK2 demos. This is unknown territory, y'all. Buckle up.

Starting at 4PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch, we're going to be streaming a plethora of bizarre Oculus Rift demonstrations, including a tour of the ocean, a deeply upsetting spacewalk, and even a trip to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Kokiri Forest. How does one actually stream Oculus Rift demos? It ain't easy. Richard Mitchell will be struggling with his rig to make the whole thing work while Anthony John Agnello feeds him your encouragement from the chat.

"It's going to be the same thing with VR," Luckey said during an interview at Gamescom. "Eventually, it's going to be commoditized and the hardware differences between all the different vendors are going to be meaningless. It's all going to be about the content and the software. So I think we're actually - in the long haul, looking years or decades out - probably more on the software side."

Luckey has a clear vision for the final Oculus hardware - higher resolution, higher framerate, 1080p, 90Hz, smaller, lighter and more comfortable. Get all of Luckey's specs in our video interview.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gamescom-2014oculusoculus-riftoculus-vrOculusRiftpalmer-luckeySat, 16 Aug 2014 12:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2014/07/02/next-batch-of-oculus-rift-development-kits-shipping/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/07/02/next-batch-of-oculus-rift-development-kits-shipping/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/07/02/next-batch-of-oculus-rift-development-kits-shipping/#comments
The next prototype development kits for Oculus Rift are now shipping, the virtual reality headset manufacturer announced this week. Sales of the $350 second kit have reached 45,000, an increase of 20,000 headsets since April. Pre-orders for the second kit started in March, just before Oculus VR was purchased by Facebook for $2 billion. The kits are expected to reach developers by the week of July 14.

Oculus VR has been busy these last few months. It acquired the Xbox 360 controller design team Carbon Design last week, Steam pioneer Jason Holtman in early June, former Valve VR head Atman Binstock in March and ID Software Co-Founder John Carmack in August.

"I wish he bought ours," Longworth said during a presentation at the ongoing Games Marketing Summit. Longworth recalls confusion over why Zuckerberg would request a demo of the Project Morpheus headset, though following the FTC's decision to allow the Oculus VR acquisition, it all makes sense. "All the folks at Oculus have got big smiles on today," he added.

Despite missing out on that massive pay day, Longworth claims Sony is still very keen on the future potential of virtual reality. "If you think about VR, not just in terms of gaming, I think wearable technology is a huge trend that's going to continue," Longworth said. "I think that being able to have experiences that are truly deep and immersive - that it somehow makes you feel you are there - is something that people want."

"If you could really deliver that in the future, that would be huge," he added, while making no mention of how Sony intends to deliver on this "huge" potential.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>facebookguy-longworthmark-zuckerbergoculus-riftOculusRiftplaystationproject-morpheusps4sonyThu, 24 Apr 2014 14:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/15/oculus-rift-total-sales-around-85-000-dev-kit-2-0-at-25-000/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/15/oculus-rift-total-sales-around-85-000-dev-kit-2-0-at-25-000/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/15/oculus-rift-total-sales-around-85-000-dev-kit-2-0-at-25-000/#commentsOculus Rift told TechCrunch that sales of its second-iteration dev kit are at about 25,000, taking the VR unit's total sales to around 85,000. For the dev kit 2.0, that figure accounts for around a month's worth of sales since pre-orders went live on March 19.

The $350 second-generation unit displays in OLED at 960 x 1080 resolution on each eye, and it offers positional head tracking via an external camera. Pre-orders are available now, but the kits aren't expected to ship until July.

If you've spent the last month living under a rock, you probably don't care that Facebook bought Oculus recently for the sum of 2 billion dollars (cue Dr Evil laugh). Even a few weeks on it's still a staggering thing to think about, especially when you consider how the device began its journey on Kickstarter just two years ago.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>facebookoculusoculus-riftOculusRiftsalesvrTue, 15 Apr 2014 08:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/28/valve-randd-head-michael-abrash-joins-oculus-as-chief-scientist/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/28/valve-randd-head-michael-abrash-joins-oculus-as-chief-scientist/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/28/valve-randd-head-michael-abrash-joins-oculus-as-chief-scientist/#comments
Michael Abrash, the leader of Valve's Research and Development team, joined Oculus VR as chief scientist today. The news follows Oculus' recent acquisition by Facebook to the tune of $2 billion, which Abrash addressed, in a blog post on Oculus VR's site, as a promise that virtual reality "is going to happen in all its glory."

"The resources and long-term commitment that Facebook brings gives Oculus the runway it needs to solve the hard problems of VR - and some of them are hard indeed," Abrash wrote. "I now fully expect to spend the rest of my career pushing VR as far ahead as I can." As of January, Abrash was at the forefront of Valve's efforts to work with Oculus to develop in-home virtual reality solutions. Valve's VR leader, Atman Binstock, joined Oculus earlier this month to lead a new Seattle-based team as chief architect.

Abrash described his "unlikely" journey to Valve and now Oculus VR in the blog and his work with John Carmack, who joined Oculus in August as the company's CTO. Oculus' own path from a $2.5 million Kickstarter project to a $2 billion sale is equally remarkable, to be sure.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>chief-scientistmacmichael-abrashoculusoculus-riftoculus-vrOculusRiftpcVirtual-RealityvrFri, 28 Mar 2014 14:16:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/02/skydieving-creator-ndreams-has-ps4-oculus-rift-plans-for-2014/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/02/skydieving-creator-ndreams-has-ps4-oculus-rift-plans-for-2014/http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/02/skydieving-creator-ndreams-has-ps4-oculus-rift-plans-for-2014/#comments
Developer nDreams made its name creating items for PlayStation Home, grew to cult fame with the debut of "Oculus Rift experimental-game-demo-falling simulator-game thing" Skydieving, and now hopes to jump into the mainstream spotlight with full-fledged PlayStation 4 and Oculus Rift projects in the works.

"I'm delighted to be able to officially announce that we are working on a PlayStation 4 title, which will launch in 2014," the studio states in a message to its investors. "More details will follow next year, but it's the most ambitious game we have ever created, and we can't wait to reveal more about it - it's going to be something truly special."

While Skydieving was less a game and more a test of the Oculus Rift's capabilities, nDreams sees a bright future for the would-be virtual reality headset. "We're also working on a game for the awesome Oculus Rift. VR is an area of technology that we believe will finally come of age in 2014, and you'll see us investing a great deal of time and money into it," the studio writes. "The technology capable of making VR work properly has finally arrived."

Alongside these big projects, nDreams will continue to create PlayStation Home items, as well as three games planned for release on mobile devices.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>macmobilendreamsoculus-riftOculusRiftpcplaystationps4skydievingsonyvrThu, 02 Jan 2014 18:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/21/ea-partners-veteran-david-demartini-now-head-of-oculus-vr-publis/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/21/ea-partners-veteran-david-demartini-now-head-of-oculus-vr-publis/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/21/ea-partners-veteran-david-demartini-now-head-of-oculus-vr-publis/#comments
Former EA Senior Vice President David DeMartini has joined Oculus VR as head of worldwide publishing, the newly-formed branch of the Oculus Rift manufacturer that aims to help developers create games that are compatible with the company's headset. In a statement to Gamasutra, DeMartini described the position as "not particularly different from what I did for seven years" as part of the EA Partners program.

"I'm figuring out how to partner effectively with big developers, small developers, all the way down to the individual who just wants to make something great for the Rift," he said. Whether the publishing division will provide financial backing to projects in order to make them Rift-compatible is unknown, though the company did just receive $75 million in funding from Netscape founder Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>david-demartinieaea-partnersmacoculus-riftoculus-vrOculusRiftpcPublisherPublishingSat, 21 Dec 2013 00:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/13/oculus-rift-gets-75-million-in-funding-from-netscape-founders/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/13/oculus-rift-gets-75-million-in-funding-from-netscape-founders/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/13/oculus-rift-gets-75-million-in-funding-from-netscape-founders/#comments
Oculus VR received $75 million in funding from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, led by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen. Oculus VR previously secured $16 million in its first round of funding in June. The company's Oculus Rift augmented reality hardware also earned $2.4 million on Kickstarter in September 2012 after reaching its $250,000 goal in 24 hours, which in itself was a testament to the appeal of the headset.

"Over the past 16 months, we've grown from a start-up to a company whose virtual reality headset is poised to change the way we play, work and communicate," Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe said in a statement to VentureBeat. The company's growing support isn't just measured in dollars, as Iribe said the company sold over 40,000 Oculus Rift kits to developers that are working to create games and apps for the headset. Additionally, id Software Co-Founder John Carmack joined Oculus VR in August as the company's CTO before officially leaving the Doom developer in November.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>andreessen-horowitzbrendan-iribefundingmarc-andreessennetscapeoculus-riftoculus-vrOculusRiftpcVCventure-capitalFri, 13 Dec 2013 17:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2013/08/07/carmack-joins-oculus-vr-as-chief-technology-officer/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/08/07/carmack-joins-oculus-vr-as-chief-technology-officer/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/08/07/carmack-joins-oculus-vr-as-chief-technology-officer/#comments
John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, has joined Oculus VR as Chief Technology Officer. Carmack will begin work on the Oculus Rift augmented reality headset on a full-time basis out of Dallas, Texas.

Carmack has experience in working with the headset in the past, showing it in conjunction with Doom 3 BFG at QuakeCon 2012. Whether Carmack has officially left id Software is undetermined at this time.

Update: Carmack will not be leaving id Software, according to a tweet issued by the company, which states that Carmack "will continue to provide leadership for our games in development."

Craig Littler, founder of the one-man studio, claims he "wasn't asking for much" when he tried to negotiate with Ouya, Inc. for the necessary revenue to retain Polarity's Ouya exclusivity. Littler says "they were fairly resistant to change and as such I think there will be plenty of devs who just use them as 'another platform' rather than committing to them exclusively."

While Littler knows Polarity isn't a blockbuster, he wants "as many people to play it as possible so I can fund my next project." Polarityfollows TowerFall as the next Ouya exclusive to call off its engagement and launch on additional platforms. We notedboth as highlights during the Ouya's launch.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>oculus-riftOculusRiftouyapcpolaritySTEAMsteam-greenlighttowerfallSun, 04 Aug 2013 12:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/26/valve-updates-source-sdk-to-include-oculus-rift-support/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/26/valve-updates-source-sdk-to-include-oculus-rift-support/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/26/valve-updates-source-sdk-to-include-oculus-rift-support/#comments
Valve updated its free software dev tool Source SDK to support Mac OSX, Linux, and the Oculus Rift. Clients can be built and run in Windows, OSX, and Linux in Source SDK 2013, and dedicated servers can be run on Windows and Linux. As for the Oculus Rift, Source SDK 2013 can provide VR support via a compatible mod, enabling stereo and head tracking.

Users can find the Source SDK 2013 code at dev project hosting service github now, while a new license agreement means mod makers can share their work "more easily." Also, the Hammer editor and other mod tools come with games rather than the SDK launcher, which Valve said is being phased out.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>linuxmacoculus-riftOculusRiftpcsourcesource-sdksource-sdk-2013steamvalveWed, 26 Jun 2013 12:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/12/sonys-yoshida-weve-got-oculus-dev-kits-i-love-it/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/12/sonys-yoshida-weve-got-oculus-dev-kits-i-love-it/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/12/sonys-yoshida-weve-got-oculus-dev-kits-i-love-it/#comments
While the PlayStation 4 doesn't yet support the Oculus Rift, Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida is full of love for the VR device. Speaking to Engadget during a roundtable today, Yoshida said, "We've got a couple of the development kits, and I tried it out and I love it."

While we've seen plenty of devs showing off their Oculus Rifts, it's interesting to note Yoshida kept the question of future PS4 support open with a "no comment" and, as Engadget notes, a big smile.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>e3-2013oculusoculus-riftoculusriftps4shuhei-yoshidaWed, 12 Jun 2013 22:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/among-the-sleep-clears-kickstarter-goal-with-three-days-to-go/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/among-the-sleep-clears-kickstarter-goal-with-three-days-to-go/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/among-the-sleep-clears-kickstarter-goal-with-three-days-to-go/#comments
Psychological horror Among the Sleep achieved its $200,000 Kickstarter goal this morning. That means the happy, innocent-looking faces of Krillbite Studio can endeavor to provide us with nightmares when the game hit PC, Mac, Linux, and Oculus Rift in Q4 this year.

While Among the Sleep was already close to its Kickstarter goal, we suspect some of Krillbite's cheer comes from the validation of doing so after releasing the playable alpha yesterday. That's still available for free on the game's Kickstarter page, if you'd like to experience how the game leverages its scares from a two-year-old's perspective. You can also read Richard's thoughts on a demo which made him "love a teddy bear within the span of a half-hour."

Among the Sleep has already cleared its first stretch goal: $200,030 got bought ice creams for each member of the team - which might also explain those happy faces. With three days to go, Krillbite only has two other stretch goals currently listed, with $225K allowing the team to optimize Oculus Rift support, and $230K unlocking in-game commentary.